This election really is something. You could've argued that Dems did better because of low turnout or that Trump's base didn't show up -- but nope, this was presidential level turnout, with Dems turning out 60 million votes, and even WITH Trump's base being awakened, they nearly took the house by 10 million votes. That's incredible.
Which leads me to think that this election is some indication of 2020. You couldn't argue that 2010 meant the defeat of Obama since the turnout was pretty low, but this election signaled mass enthusiasm in the opposition with the Democrats beating the GOP by nearly 10 mill in such a turnout.
For all of the coddling of Obama/Trump voters, Macomb Democrats, diner denizens, etc. we've done in the last two years, low turnout for Clinton that trickled down-ballot is one of the best explanations for Trump's 2016 win we have. As long as Democrats can turn out those voters who
stayed home in '16 they are starting from a good baseline for 2020. Some portion of the 7 million in the margin between 2016 and 2020 turned out in 2018 but not two years ago.
Definitely not an argument for complacency, though, as everybody underestimated enthusiasm and turnout for Trump in 2016 and overestimated Hillary's favorables, and that could just as easily happen again. But, I still think it's more likely than not that we'll see better turnout in 2020, especially given what we saw in 2020.
Also LOL at the idea that Trump would improve on his 2016 numbers as Orange County and New Jersey suburbanites flocked to Trump once they realized he was a standard conservative candidate. This election blew that narrative out of the water, thankfully.
